Omid Djalili and David Baddiel talk to Dominic Cavendish about their daring
new comedy 'The Infidel'.

It sounds like an open invitation to start a holy war, or three – an internet-based competition seeking to establish “Which Religion is Funniest?” pegged to the release of The Infidel, the risqué new British film comedy about an ordinary Muslim family man who discovers he’s Jewish. At a time when half the planet appears primed to rise up in arms about perceived slights to its religious sensitivities, and a handful of cartoons can spark angry protests around the world, isn’t this kind of promotional spin-off equivalent to throwing a tank-load of petrol on a barely contained bonfire?

Well, no, maintain both David Baddiel, whose brainchild The Infidel is, and Omid Djalili, who’s swapping a taqiyah for a yarmulka to play the culture-shocked central character. Firstly, the competition page, hosted through the social networking site Facebook, hasn’t resulted in death threats, rampant animosity, or anyone going into hiding, although Baddiel concedes: “Rows broke out – rather brilliantly – between fundamentalists and atheists.” Secondly, he adds, the underlying aim behind this bit of talent-spotting fun, which required entrants to upload clips of themselves telling gags, was “to defuse the seriousness and tension surrounding religion”.

“'Funniest religion’ means, in the main,” he says, “which religion has the best jokes?’ It can, of course, be taken mean, 'Which religion is the most mockable?’ Scientology, for example, some might say.

“But certainly the origins of the idea were more about, 'Which religion – which culture, really – provides the most fertile ground for comedy?’”

The entries have been shortlisted by public vote, with Baddiel and Djalili making the final call on the winners – announced exclusively first here today (see box).

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In total, at close of play last Friday, 1,513 votes had been cast for just over 70 jokes/routines. Massively unscientific as this comedy census is (and how apt is that, given that religion is the theme?), one can declare forthwith that the Funniest Religion is – shock, horror! – Islam. Official.

Jewish contributions were surprisingly thin on the ground. Christian efforts inclined towards the wishy-washy, with Middlesbrough Christian Chris McGlade drawing strong support for his mild-mannered gag, the best of the bunch: “In the Bible, it says Jesus’s dad was a carpenter. That’s a bare-faced, unashamed lie, because I’ve got all the Carpenters records, and he wasn’t on any of them.”

A number of the Muslim entries, meanwhile, had a confidence, an incisiveness and, yes, an attack, that would strike the casual, impartial observer as downright refreshing.

Baddiel, who describes himself as “an atheist in my head but a Jew in my heart”, was impressed. “The most interesting thing is the outstanding stuff coming from young Muslims, which is great, I think, because it challenges the concept of Islam as a humourless culture. Also, of course, Muslim comics have a lot to talk about at the moment and a lot of stuff to satirise.”

Djalili, an Anglo-Iranian of the Baha’i faith, believes the result will help counter the standard perception that Jews have a monopoly on humour. “I was raised surrounded by Middle Eastern wit,” he says, “and much of it is actually quite similar to Jewish wit. Some of the thought patterns and speech patterns are completely the same. It sounds clichéd, but there is a joy in discovering similarities, and that’s what the film is about, too.”

For all the emphasised positivity of the enterprise, both are conscious that there are deeper issues, to do with freedom of speech and the taking of offence, that can’t be adequately resolved on a Facebook page, or even in one film.

“I’m well aware that this throws up the age-old questions about where you draw the line,” says Djalili. “There is a fine line between being genuinely entertaining and perpetuating harmful stereotypes. But we thought, 'Let’s not prejudge this; let’s see what people come up with; let’s see what’s out there.”

'The Infidel’ is released on Friday.

Omid Djalili's favourite Iranian joke

An eight year-old Iranian girl is on a flight business class from London to Los Angeles. An American man is sat next to her. He says: “Why don’t we have a conversation? It will make the flight go quicker.” She puts her crayons down and says: “What do you want to talk about?” He says: “You’re Iranian aren’t you? Why don’t we talk about Iran’s nuclear weapons programme? And she says: “Before we talk about Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, can I ask you a question? When horses do a poo, they do poos in tubes, whereas a sheep does poos in pellets, and a cow does poos in cow-pats. Why is that?” And the American man says: “I have no idea.” And she says: “How do you expect me to talk about Iran’s nuclear weapons programme when you don’t know shit?”

And the winners of the Funniest Religion contest are...

Joint winners of the Funniest Religion competition, who will be appearing at the premiere of The Infidel at the Hammersmith Apollo on Thursday, are Nabil Abdul Rashid and Pardis Parker.

Rashid reflects on the complications of being a Nigerian Muslim who lives in South London: “As a Nigerian, I do identify with Jews because whenever I walk into a bank I feel the same way a Jew would if he walked into a church – guilty for stuff I didn’t do.”

Parker, of mixed Iranian/Sri Lankan heritage, impressed Baddiel and Djalili with a routine likening the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to two office workers contesting a car-parking space. An honourable mention goes to Imran Yusuf, who splices a Jihadist video rant with reaction shots of Cowell and co on Britain’s Got Talent. All this material is viewable on Facebook and YouTube.